While the literature appeals to efficiency arguments from agency theory to explain the relative rise of CEO equity compensation, prior work has given less focus to CEO pay contracts based on equity and cash incentives that directly (analytically) maximize the total return of firm owners. The...

The primary role of equity compensation is to provide incentives to an effort-averse agent. Here, we show that the chosen level of equity incentives, when publicly disclosed, will also convey information about future earnings, causing two-way linkages between incentive compensation and financial...

Stock option grants to top managers have largely contributed to the dramatic increase in US executive pay in recent years. In this paper it is argued that stock options, compared to other forms of compensation, have created strong incentives for managers to engage in lobbying activities for...

Stock option grants to top managers have largely contributed to the dramatic increase in US executive pay in recent years. In this paper it is argued that stock options, compared to other forms of compensation, have created strong incentives for managers to engage in lobbying activities for...

There is widespread and growing concern about the availability of good jobs in the U.S. economy. Inequality has been growing for thirty years and is now at levels not seen since the 1920s. Stable and remunerative employment has become harder for U.S. workers to find. With the widespread plant...

While theorists differ sharply on the expected economic impact of stock options, typically empirical work has found a positive association between option schemes and firm productivity. However, existing data are limited and may not enable reliable investigation of the productivity effects of...

I examine how stock-based compensation for CEOs is designed following corporate acquisitions conditional on the economic nature of acquisitions. Large conglomerate acquisitions are the type of events that represent significant changes in the economic environment of the company. Therefore, it is...

Focusing on Spanish firms, we investigate how investors incorporate the value of a firm's outstanding employee stock options (ESO hereafter) into its stock price. Aboody (1996) analyzes the same issue on US data, however our approach differs in two ways. First, we value ESO grants using Hull...

High-profile corporate scandals earlier in this decade provoked outrage and legislative action, however corporate executive-level ethical lapses continue to come to light. This article examines the work of Professor Dunfee and his co-authors on corruption, ethical leadership, and social...

Employee mobility as a conduit for knowledge transfer to a business competitor is a growing source of concern for many employers in the modern business environment where the skills, relationships, and knowledge embedded in a firm’s employees has become an important source of competitive...